“[Awaking to awareness] gives you everything that is beautiful, everything that is fragrant. Your existence is all-pervading. All the four Vedas do not know how to praise you.” ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Aloha From Honolulu

Question: Aloha, Rodney. Your blog and book are great. I have followed you for a while now and connect with your words more than with other teachers. And believe me, there have been plenty of others!

Rodney: Ahola to you also! Thanks for writing and for your warm remarks. You can never predict what teacher will resonate with what person. The connection is there, and there is little that one can do to explain it. But then, no explanation is necessary, really. It is what it is.

Q: I've been following non-duality for about 10 years. I have mostly given up on this final understanding happening. But I keep being drawn back into this teaching. Perhaps in my gut I know that the teaching's true.

Rodney: If you continuing to be drawn back, then that's your heart leading the way, which tends to happen with earnest and resolute seekers. You almost have no choice in the matter! As you said, this knowingness about the accuracy and authenticity of nonduality is in your "gut." It isn't a belief or blind faith, but an inner knowing that doesn't dissipate, despite the passage of even a decade.

Q: Yes, that definitely seems to be going on here...I just have a question about your recent blog entry. You wrote, "what is it, right now, that would also be with you in deep sleep?" How would someone like myself know, experientially, what is present while I'm in deep sleep?

Rodney: You won't know it while you're in deep sleep; for that is a sleep that is without dreams and an active consciousness. It is total rest. And essentially, awareness is all there is. Self-knowing only occurs during the waking state; for there must be a certain amount of alertness present to realize that you are Presence!

Q: Oh, okay. Now I see what you mean.

Rodney: And what is seen at that time is the very same awareness that is present in deep sleep. (It is also present while you're dreaming, of course.) So it's a matter of seeing or understanding what it is that exists in all three states, and that can be discerned right now if you carefully take note of the fact that your ordinary, everyday awareness isn't unremarkable at all. Indeed, it is ripe with hushness and everlasting peace. It is alive, but unchanging. There, but indefinable.

Q: It's just a matter of recognizing it.

Rodney: Right, of seeing or understanding that what you are looking for is what you already are. That immediacy is currently being overlooked for any number of reasons. But the usual "suspects" are a needless attention on thoughts and feelings, dualistic thinking (awareness is there, but "I" have to "attain" it), and the objectification of yourself and appearances (e.g., that you are an individual person rather than awareness itself).

Q: So this "I" within me can't take me that final understanding.

Rodney: It cannot. It is just a thought, a temporary sense of an individual self arising in presence. Having been told that, you simply bring your attention back to the spaciousness from which a thought or feeing or belief emerges. So not only is the "answer" already there, you are the answer. It is your ordinary, everyday awareness seen in its totality. As you reflect upon any of this, be attentive to any cessations of thoughts and sentiments. And those pauses most definitely will occur; for thoughts and ideas come and go. Awareness does not. So what is it, right at this moment , that is not moving? The answer is before and within you, and you are That.

Q: Much thanks, Rodney. Now I understand what you mean. There is something present through all three states, and that it doesn't change. That's very powerful and for some reason, comforting. It is very nice of you to help people with this. I look forward to your weekly entries, so please continue to write.

Nonduality Magazine has published a discussion with Rodney about his work and book. The extensive and wide-ranging interview was done by John LeKay, the magazine's editor.

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"Loved the book, Rodney. Enjoyed it as much as John Wheeler's first book, Awakening to the Natural State. My favourite quote of yours was "you are no more your personal history than you are your toothbrush." I like the fact that you included little tidbits of your life and surrounds. It felt more like reading a book on travel or history than some of the other textbook style books on nonduality. I think for anyone serious about a direct approach, your book and John Wheeler's are the two to have." -- Ian

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A Vastness All Around: Awakening to Your Natural State is Rodney's first collection of essays, discussions, interviews, and powerful pointers. It can be ordered directly from the publisher at Lulu Press.

If you would like to meet Rodney, have him to discuss nonduality, sign books, or read, you can email him at: writerguy@fastmail.fm Such events are self-organized, so funding is key, with groups and universities that can cover travel expenses getting priority. And much appreciation!

About Me

In 2007, Rodney discovered his natural state shortly after reading the works of Nisargadatta Maharaj, Sailor Bob Adamson, and U.G. Krishnamurti. Stevens lives in Columbia, South Carolina, and enjoys conversing with those who are seriously interested in Self-knowledge.